Evidence that the RdeA protein is a component of a multistep phosphorelay modulating rate of development in Dictyostelium

We have isolated an insertional mutant of Dictyostelium discoideum that aggregated rapidly and formed spores and stalk cells within 14 h of development instead of the normal 24 h. We have shown by parasexual genetics that the insertion is in the rdeA locus and have cloned the gene. It encodes a predicted 28 kDa protein (RdeA) that is enriched in charged residues and is very hydrophilic. Constructs with the DNA for the c-Myc epitope or for the green fluorescent protein indicate that RdeA is not compartmentalized. RdeA displays homology around a histidine residue at amino acid 65 with members of the H2 module family of phosphotransferases that participate in multistep phosphoryl relays. Replacement of this histidine rendered the protein inactive. The mutant is complemented by transformation with the Ypd1 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, itself an H2 module protein. We propose that RdeA is part of a multistep phosphorelay system that modulates the rate of development.     

Least Squares Vertex Baking

We investigate the representation of signals defined on triangle meshes using linearly interpolated vertex attributes. Compared to texture mapping, storing data only at vertices yields significantly lower memory overhead and less expensive runtime reconstruction. However, standard approaches to determine vertex values such as point sampling or averaging triangle samples lead to suboptimal approximations. We discuss how an optimal solution can be efficiently calculated using continuous least‐squares. In addition, we propose a regularization term that allows us to minimize gradient discontinuities and mach banding artifacts while staying close to the optimum. Our method has been integrated in a game production lighting tool and we present examples of representing signals such as ambient occlusion and precomputed radiance transfer in real game scenes, where vertex baking was used to free up resources for other game components.     

Example Based Everyting

The magic of computer graphics as seen in many current movies and computer games comes at a cost. Creating the geometric forms with which to generate synthetic characters and animating the characters to bring them to life require either highly skilled artists and/or sophisticated capture devices. Both are expensive and, in the case of highly skilled artists, rare.     

Automatic Real-Time Analysis of Reactive Systems with the PARTS Toolset

Real-time systems are becoming increasingly widespread, often in safety-critical applications. It is therefore crucial that these systems be correct; however, there are few automated tools for analyzing concurrency and timing properties of these systems. The PARTS toolset uses a Petri-net-based reachability analysis to analyze program specifications written in an Ada-83 subset. Our simple time Petri nets are specifically aimed at facilitating real-time analysis. In order to control the state-explosion problem, PARTS employs several optimization techniques aimed at state-space reduction. In this paper we discuss our approach and we report on extensive experiments with several examples of real-time specifications based on Ada 83. When possible, we also compare our experimental results with results obtained by other approaches to real-time analysis.     

Analysis of ``dot product space'' shape descriptions

A convenient representation for blob-like figures in an image consists of the orientation, length, and width of a bounding rect-angle. One fast algorithm for producing such a bounding rectangle is based upon a dot product space. The analysis of the dot product space shape representation is improved to handle certain pathological cases, and it is shown how to generalize this analysis to accommodate different criteria for the goodness of the representation.     

Theory revision with queries: Horn, read-once, and parity formulas

A theory, in this context, is a Boolean formula; it is used to classify instances, or truth assignments. Theories can model real-world phenomena, and can do so more or less correctly. The theory revision, or concept revision, problem is to correct a given, roughly correct concept. This problem is considered here in the model of learning with equivalence and membership queries. A revision algorithm is considered efficient if the number of queries it makes is polynomial in the revision distance between the initial theory and the target theory, and polylogarithmic in the number of variables and the size of the initial theory. The revision distance is the minimal number of syntactic revision operations, such as the deletion or addition of literals, needed to obtain the target theory from the initial theory. Efficient revision algorithms are given for Horn formulas and read-once formulas, where revision operators are restricted to deletions of variables or clauses, and for parity formulas, where revision operators include both deletions and additions of variables. We also show that the query complexity of the read-once revision algorithm is near-optimal.     

Associated computational plasticity schemes for nonassociated frictional materials

A new methodology for computational plasticity of nonassociated frictional materials is presented. The new approach is inspired by the micromechanical origins of friction and results in a set of governing equations similar to those of standard associated plasticity. As such, procedures previously developed for associated plasticity are applicable with minor modification. This is illustrated by adaptation of the standard implicit scheme. Moreover, the governing equations can be cast in terms of a variational principle, which after discretization is solved by means of a newly developed second‐order cone programming algorithm. The effects of nonassociativity are discussed with reference to localization of deformations and illustrated by means of a comprehensive set of examples. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Basis enrichment and solid–fluid coupling for model‐reduced fluid simulation

We present several enhancements to model‐reduced fluid simulation that allow improved simulation bases and two‐way solid–fluid coupling. Specifically, we present a basis enrichment scheme that allows us to combine data‐driven or artistically derived bases with more general analytic bases derived from Laplacian eigenfunctions. We handle two‐way solid–fluid coupling in a time‐splitting fashion—we alternately timestep the fluid and rigid body simulators, while taking into account the effects of the fluid on the rigid bodies and vice versa. We employ the vortex panel method to handle solid–fluid coupling and use dynamic pressure to compute the effect of the fluid on rigid bodies. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

硫脲浸出液活性炭负载洗脱研究

从硫脲浸出液中活性炭负载洗脱金是比较困难的,目前在这方面发表的文献并不很多。本文着重研究并讨论了从负载活性炭上洗脱金的不同方法,包括酸性硫脲有机溶液和非有机洗脱液。研究了丙酮、乙腈、丁醇、乙二醚和乙醇5种有机溶剂。研究了不同的硫脲、硫酸和有机溶剂的浓度和温度对洗脱的影响。试验表明了这5种有机溶剂对金的洗脱能力按如下顺序排列: 丁醇>乙腈>乙二醚>乙醇>丙酮当采用5%丁醇,50～100g/L硫脲和50～100g/L硫酸,温度40～60℃时,金的洗脱率可达98～99%,此时活性炭含金降至0.10mg/g以下。对于非有机洗脱液,像硫化钠和硫代硫酸钠,研究表明金的洗脱率主要取决于溶液的浓度和温度,在室温时,1～2mol的硫化钠溶液可以洗脱99%的金。如果溶液的浓度降低至0.5mol,则温度需升至80℃以上才可能获得相同的洗脱率。